The Take Over of School Pictures

 

By D.I. Muhammad 

 

In February of 2026 while scrolling through social media before bed, videos filled my feed on LifeTouch Pictures. The frenzy was how LifeTouch was selling pictures and the connection with Jeffrey Epstein.

Anyone who went to school would remember having their pictures taken for yearbook or just the package your mom picked out, so she could have you posted on the mantle, and the other pictures she gave out to your grandmother, uncle and auntie.

It had me thinking back. When I did I recalled having my high school pictures being taken down in the basement.  Didn't know we had a basement until that day. I recall it felt creepy walking down those stairs. Everyone else was joyful and happy, but me, it didn't feel right. 

Let's dive into who LifeTouch is, and if parents really had a justified concern.

LifeTouch is an American photography company based in East Prairie, Minnesota, with a Canadian company located in Winnipeg,  Manitoba.   There are facilities in Ohio, Indiana and Nevada.  The company was founded in 1936 by Bruce Reinecker and Eldon Rothgeb.

They were two traveling sales men working for a school photography  studio in Kansas City,  Missouri.  In 1936, Reinecker and Rothgeb raised $500 to set up there own photography studio in Minnesota.  Their studio was called, National School Studios. By 1939, they had 10 sales men who sold packages to schools. They were the first to also offer the 3x5.  No other photography studio did this.  Employees had a share in the company. 

The name would change in 1980 to, LifeTouch Studios.

"On August 1, 1984, Erickson announced a new name for the corporation—Lifetouch—saying that the new logo in script "looks like we're signing our work." Business units, each with separate identities, were rebranded: NSS became Lifetouch National School Studios; Kinderfoto became Lifetouch Portrait Studios; Prestige Portraits became Lifetouch Senior Portraits (now Prestige Portraits); and Universal Publications became Lifetouch Publishing (now Lifetouch Services)."

In 2018, Shutterfly acquired LifeTouch for $825 million cash.  

In 2019 Leon Black, owner of Apollo Global Management,  acquired LifeTouch's parent company Shutterfly.   Black came in as a beneficial owner.  I had to look up what a Beneficial Owner was.

"In domestic and international commercial law, a beneficial owner is a natural person (or persons) who ultimately owns or controls an interest in a legal entity or arrangement, such as a company, trust, or foundation. Legal owners (i.e. owners of record), commonly described as registered owners, may hold those interests as beneficial owners or for the benefit of someone else, in which case they may be described as nominees.

Beneficial owners hold specific property rights (use and title) in equity that belong to them, even though legal title to the property belongs to another person. A beneficial owner is subject to a state's statutory laws regulating interest or title transfers." (Wikipedia)

The summarized version: They benefit from the assets of the company, even if they're the front face for the company, and their name is not officially on the paperwork.  The person listed on record, the "Legal Owner", may be holding it on that person's behalf.

Black bought out the shareholders, and then made the company that was on the stock market, private.  This is what Black did with  Shutterfly and LifeTouch.

In 2026 it's Canadian - based, 

"Everest Solutions would acquire the Canadian operations of Lifetouch, Lifetouch Canada and is currently operating as "Lifetouch Powered By Everest". The acquisition makes Everest Solutions the largest provider of school photography in Canada. Everest Solutions was founded in 2021 by former Lifetouch."

My interest is does Life Touch have a monopoly on this sector with school photography, and how did that happen? Why don't they have competition? I'm sure there are local school photographers in each state  that could do it.

The thing is that LifeTouch has a 40% margin on the education sector when it comes to school photography. That's a large net in the market.  There are other school photographers such as Barksdale.  I call this a monopoly, while others may view it as creating a "captive market".

LifeTouch has bought over 250 smaller regional

Photography companies.  The next largest company only covers 5,000 to 7,000 schools.

To sustain this "captive market", LifeTouch offers schools incentives in order to keep them as customers, so that they don't and won't seek out the competitors.   In order to not be a monopoly, a company would not have rivals.  But how can competitors compete if one company is saturating the market.

In 2021, Leon Black was forced to step down from his position when his name became connected with the Jeffrey Epstein case.  When he stepped down he lost operational control of LifeTouch even though he still owns 9% of Apollo Global Management.

"Because he co-founded Apollo and still owns millions of shares, he profits when Apollo’s investments do well. If Lifetouch and Shutterfly make money for Apollo, it indirectly drives up the value of his stock." (Wikipedia)

Does Leon Black have connections with Epstein?  According to the Epstein files his name is listed in 8,200 of the files.  According to nbcconnecticut,

"Epstein and Black intersected as far back as 2001, when Epstein served as the director of Black’s family foundation, a family statement in the Epstein files shows. Emails and texts in the trove of documents released by the Justice Department show the two had meetings over the years and indicate that Black received financial advice from Epstein. Black’s full name appears in the Epstein files more than 8,200 times, though some records may be duplicative."

In 2025, Artnet.com wrote that, "Black is still being investigated by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee over more than $150 million that he paid to Epstein for tax-related work between 2012 and 2017. For example, in 2016, the billionaire collector and former chairman of the Museum of Modern Art sold an Alberto Giacometti sculpture, Figure Moyenne II (1947), for $25 million to a trust controlled by Epstein."  How did Black not know Jeffrey if his services were secured to help with advise on tax-related work for five years. 

It's said Black taught Epstein hacks to avoid a Capital gains tax that is placed on the purchase of art.

Black's team denies affiliation,  but it doesn't sit right with me.

On September 16, 2026, the U.S. Congress held Leon Black in contempt. 

"The resolution says, “Mr. Black’s willful refusal to comply with the Oversight Committee’s subpoenas constitutes contempt of Congress and warrants referral to the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia for prosecution as prescribed by law.

The full House is holding him in contempt without any regard to the active litigation challenging the lawfulness of the Committee’s actions and the ethics complaint against Chairman Comer,” they wrote.Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., the committee chair, said Wednesday: “No one is above the law. Leon Black defied two subpoenas, and the U.S. House of Representatives acted swiftly to find him in contempt of Congress.

The top Democrat on the panel, Rep. Robert Garcia of California, called the vote “an important step towards justice and accountability.” He said members need to know why Black “gave Jeffrey Epstein $180 million.”

Why avoid subpoenas, if you are not aligned with what Jeffrey was into? Why ignore it? Why not just say it was for  advise on taxes?   This just came through 5 hours ago, so 3pm my time.

Parents are concerned about what happens to the data of their children,  and why does LifeTouch retain it even if the child is not taking pictures.

If you still choose to have your child take pictures with this company,  they are providing a site where you can opt out of them holding your child's data.